


Midgar Steak on the First Date

by AppleSharon



Series: Slice of Clack one-shots [3]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Cliche, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Clack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25342567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleSharon/pseuds/AppleSharon
Summary: This explained why Zack was at the restaurant, but didn’t explain why he was sitting here with him at this table. Cloud couldn’t help but push further.“Yeah… but why did you sit with me?”Zack sheepishly tugged at his own hair, throwing his head back with a laugh. “Would you believe me if I said that you’re the best-looking guy in here?”Cloud blushed furiously. He shook his head and looked down at the tablecloth.When Cloud is stood up by his squadmates, Zack comes to his rescue.Written for Slice of Clack 2020. Prompt: Clichés, fake/pretend relationship
Relationships: Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Series: Slice of Clack one-shots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812355
Comments: 12
Kudos: 112
Collections: Slice of Clack: July 2020





	Midgar Steak on the First Date

**Author's Note:**

> This is my third entry for the [July Slice of Clack event](https://sliceofclack.carrd.co/#schedule). This time the prompt was clichés and I went with a fake/pretend first date (that turns into a real first date). 
> 
> All of my entries for this challenge involve Zack and Cloud sharing a meal together.

Five minutes after the scheduled time, Cloud knew he had been tricked.

His mother would have admonished him for his pessimism, but she didn’t have to deal with infantry hazing. As the lowest-ranked man in their barracks, Cloud was the easiest mark.

He had now been seated for over an hour. 

The problem wasn’t that he had been set up. He should have expected it. 

In a way, he had half-expected it, thinking that this was too good to be true and that they would set him up for some sort of additional hazing. His squadmates were rarely nice to him and going out of their way to set him up on a date was certainly not normal behaviour.

He sighed, looking out across the small vase of flowers on the table. They were a deep red with black centres and they seemed to dance in the flickering candlelight. 

At least they had sent him to a nice place. 

Colouring at the pitying gazes of the waitstaff — they probably saw this all the time, especially with Shinra military grunts — Cloud opened the menu again and hid his face behind it, if only to stave off the server’s inevitable reappearance asking if he would like to order anything. 

Cloud wasn’t hurt that his squadmates had done this to him. It was just one of those things he had already accepted, and it wasn’t like he was close with any of them. Hazing was part of being in the Shinra infantry. The problem was now extricating himself from the social part of the situation, especially on a limited budget. 

Alone and frozen with indecision while hiding behind a menu at a table with settings obviously meant for two was a far worse scenario than any of the other hazing rituals Cloud had dealt with thus far.

He would rather have been beaten up in a stairwell like usual than go through this. 

Sighing again, Cloud lowered the menu from his face and steeled himself to go through dinner alone when he heard the chair across from him scrape against the floor. He looked up to stumble through what was sure to be another awkward interaction with his server but was met with a familiar wide grin and sparkling green eyes. 

“I’m so sorry I’m late! Angeal really put us through hell today and I couldn’t get free any earlier. I hope you haven’t been waiting long.” 

“Zack Fair?” Cloud managed to stutter out. 

The SOLDIER First Class beamed at Cloud before holding up his menu, shielding both of their faces. 

“Don’t sound so shocked. They’ll never believe you that way. Just pretend that I’m your date,” Zack said. 

“Also you know who I am.” Zack added this last part as a statement, not a question. 

Despite his confusion, Cloud bit back a retort that they weren’t going to believe them any way with Zack’s loud stage whisper. 

“Yeah… I know who you are,” he managed to stammer out. “Everyone does.”

Zack smiled at him again. 

Cloud wanted to ask him if he ever stopped smiling. In the Shinra posters, from a distance, and now in person, Zack seemed to have a permanent smile plastered on his face. 

No wonder he was so popular. 

The server had made a beeline for their table moments after Zack had sat down, nearly tripping over himself to get the SOLDIER whatever he wanted while sending overtly apologetic glances to Cloud.

“What are you doing?” Cloud asked after he stumbled awkwardly through ordering a Midgar steak, medium rare. 

Zack pouted and placed his hand over Cloud’s. Cloud flinched but resisted the urge to yank it away. He wasn’t that rude, at least. 

“Awwww c’mon. I thought we had something special.”

Cloud couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “You don’t even know my name,” he whispered after looking around. The pitying stares of the restaurant staff and patrons seemed to have died down after Zack’s arrival. 

“What’s your name?” Zack whispered back. 

He hadn’t moved his hand from where he had loosely wrapped it around Cloud’s on the table. It was warm and Zack moved his thumb absentmindedly across Cloud’s fingers. Cloud flushed and hoped that his palm wasn’t too sweaty. 

“Cadet Cloud Strife…” 

It suddenly occurred to Cloud that Zack was a high-ranking officer in Shinra military and he blushed even deeper. 

“…sir,” he added weakly after a pause. 

Zack pulled his hand away and frowned. 

“Don’t call me that, please.” He brightened up a bit after looking into Cloud’s eyes. “After all, we’re on a date.”

“Yeah…”

Zack leaned forward. He was even more good-looking than his photographs, especially in the low light of the restaurant. It suited Zack, the flickering of the candles enhancing what seemed to be a naturally high-energy personality. 

Cloud had heard things of course — there were always rumours about the First-Class SOLDIERS since there were so few of them — but they didn’t compare to how overwhelming Zack was in person. 

“You think a lot,” Zack said, sitting back while taking a sip of his water. 

Cloud shrugged. He wasn’t particularly outgoing, and talking to Zack was even more awkward than being stood up by someone who was likely fake to begin with as part of a setup from his squadmates. 

“Who stood you up?” Zack asked. 

“My squadmates… they thought it would be funny I guess.”

Something dangerous flickered across Zack’s face. For a moment, the air felt unbearably oppressive. Cloud swallowed. The feeling passed as quickly as it had come on, and when Cloud looked back up, Zack was smiling guilelessly at him again. 

“What a bunch of assholes,” Zack said. “Although, it’s lucky for me in the end.”

Cloud snorted.

“Why are you here… ?” He trailed off before he could call Zack “sir” again.

“Oh you know Kunsel?” Zack pointed at a corner table of laughing young men in SOLDIER uniforms. Cloud recognized one of the Second-Class SOLDIERS. “We were going out to eat with his squad.” 

As if he had heard Zack’s words from across the crowded room, Kunsel waved at the two of them with a wink and a smirk. Zack waved back merrily while Cloud ducked his head. 

This explained why Zack was at the restaurant, but didn’t explain why he was sitting here with him at this table. Cloud couldn’t help but push further. 

“Yeah… but why did you sit with me?”

Zack sheepishly tugged at his own hair, throwing his head back with a laugh. “Would you believe me if I said that you’re the best-looking guy in here?”

Cloud blushed furiously. He shook his head and looked down at the tablecloth.

“Ah shit,” Zack said, squirming in his chair. “Look, if I made you uncomfortable, I can go back and sit with them. It’s just that you looked really lonely and, I dunno, no one deserves to be stood up like that, especially if it’s a prank. You should really talk to your superior officer about that actually. Also you really are good-looking! I just wanted to get to know you.”

Zack sounded ridiculous, but Cloud looked up at him and saw only a sincere smile. 

“Yeah, okay,” Cloud said after staring at Zack for another moment. 

He searched for any sign that Zack was lying but found none. Zack didn’t seem like the type to lie or play a prank on top of what Cloud’s own squadmates had done. 

“You should… stay,” he finally said.

Zack smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'll probably update this with a second part when I have the time, but I think it stands alone.
> 
> If you enjoyed this, here are my other Slice of Clack entries:
> 
> [Kalm-style Soup in Junon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25027210) Prompt: Intimacy, sickfic
> 
> [Nibel Stew](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25135414) Prompt: Celebration, birthday


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